Must-haves, memoirs, sagas and short stories: has irresistible reads for all to enjoy

This year has been packed with much-anticipated fiction releases from starry authors: The Book of Dust, the first instalment of Philip Pullman’s follow-up to His Dark Materials; Arundhati Roy’s The Minis-Ministry Of Utmost Happiness,ness, her first since her Bookerer Prize-Prizewinning debut The God of

Small Things 20 years ago; and bestselling Japanese author H a r u k i M u r a k a m i ’’ss first short story collectionon in 11 years, Men With-out Women.

There were also nov-els from Salman Rushdie (The Golden House), Paul Auster (4321), Ali Smith (Winter), and Mohsin Hamid (Exit West), while this y e a r ’s Booker Prize went too American short storryy writer George Saundersrs for his first full-length novel Lincoln In The Bardo. Meanwhile, spy novelist John Le Carré brought back his iconic character George Smiley in A Legacy of Spies, and look out for the beautiful reissue of Agatha Christie’s 1934 detectivetive novel Mu Murder On The Orient Express, pupublished to tie in with the blockbublockbuster film release. Memoirs have provided some of the mo most important releases of the year. ye Must-reads came from RobeRobert Webb with his How Not No To Be A Boy, and Ariel A Levy with The RulesR Do Not Apply. OtherO notable autobiographies included Gordon Brown’s My Life, Our Times.

And not forgetting Pankaj Mishra’s Age of Anger: A History Of The Present, about tthe rage felt across the world, from Trump to terror. A new Ottolenghi cookbook makes a great gift. Using fresh, aromatic flavours — think fig, rose petal, saffron, aniseed, orange blossom, and cardamom — he creates innovative treats from blackberry and star anise friands to saffron, orange and honey madeleines. £14.65

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